


Lost at Sea

by Syksy



Category: Den lille Havfrue | The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen
Genre: Extra Treat, F/F, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29315760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syksy/pseuds/Syksy
Summary: A princess ought to be happy the morning after marrying her prince. But this is not that kind of a tale.
Relationships: Den lille Havfrue | The Little Mermaid/Prinsesse | Princess
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Lost at Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ForsythiaRising](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForsythiaRising/gifts).



The princess has risen early from her bridal bed. As she exits their pavilion she sees the sailors in their never ending work, incomprehensible and thus of no great interest to her. Not wishing to be in the way of any such endeavours, she walks alone to the rail and looks idly down. The waves are a deep green against the hull of the ship, almost black. Only for a second, here and there—when sunlight hits them just the right way—can one see the brilliance of their true colour. It is a mesmerizing sight, at once tranquil and violent.

Gradually she becomes aware of angry voices, somewhere belowdecks. They are not yet shouting, but are on the cusp of it. Sound carries strangely on a ship, she thinks, there is never a true silence aboard, nor true privacy. Because of her birth she has never had much of the latter in any case, but in the temple she had grown well accustomed to quiet.

The voices draw closer; are joined by others, increasing the volume while simultaneously making it harder to make sense of any of the actual words. They are looking for someone, the princess decides, and feels the first sense of cold dread slide like a finger down her spine.

The ward of the prince is missing. Gone from her bed, with no one the wiser.

She turns her eyes back to the roiling, wine dark sea. There is white froth, like lace, covering it all around. And somehow she knows that she’ll never see her heart’s delight again.

The prince (her husband, an inner voice supplies) calls for her. He appears to be in great distress, and it should not surprise her, really, for he did love his foundling too. When he asks her to help search for the girl, she goes. It is useless, but there is no way to explain this knowing that has settled on her, so she calls out with the others, looks under piles of cloth and behind barrels, turns over the same empty crates, over and over again.

It is strange, she finds herself thinking, how much can change in so short a time. A dance, a kiss, a dream born in an evening and dead before the next. She had seen a sadness in her beloved, but when was anyone free of that, in this world they live in? She had made those solemn lips smile at least, before the end. She’ll always have that.

At last the searchers all stop. She must have fallen overboard in the dark, the captain says, apologizing as eloquently as he is able for this lack of care of the prince’s guest. Everyone knows that he cannot be blamed, and yet he must be, for someone should be at fault here. Members of the royal party do not just disappear. A grief for him, to shade the rest of his days.

Afterwards her husband follows the princess, as her steps drift to the rail once more. The two of them stand side by side for a while, not speaking. The prince is a man though, called all too soon into action, and thus he leaves her, finally, blessedly alone. Now she dares to let her tears fall freely, just this once. Here, where any errant drops, should they be seen, can be blamed on the surf and the breeze. It would not do for them to see her weep, on this first day of her new life. Kindly the wind picks the wetness up from her cheeks and carries it away. The waves rise up to meet the air and so the salt of her grief mixes with the salt of the sea. 


End file.
